ga-ga, ooh la-la!

Remember the last time a music video premiered and the world seemed to collectively stop, watch it and react to it? Yea, me neither.
Lady Gaga pretty much single-handedly made the music video relevant again with yesterday's premiere of her "Bad Romance" video. Haters who have labeled Gaga as disposable, unoriginal or irrelevant seem to be eating their words after viewing this unforgettable video. Whether you love it, hate it or are just plain confused by it, you'd be hard-pressed to come up with an argument that the Lady doesn't put on a hell of an entertaining show. Just try to look away when she and her dancers claw at the air wearing skintight body suits or when Gaga sings to the camera with tears in her eyes, face startlingly free of makeup.
More than any other popular recording artist today, Gaga is 150% devoted to the art of performance. The set, the clothes, the makeup and the choreography are all working together to tell a story, and we haven't seen anything like this in a music video in years. Christopher John Farley said it best on the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog, noting that Gaga is, "one of the few pop stars these days who really understands spectacle, fashion, shock, choreography—all the things Madonna and Michael Jackson were masters of in the 1980s." I completely agree. And nothing demonstrates Gaga's understanding of what it means to be a pop star better than this music video.
All Gaga like or dislike aside, I think it's worth noting that in our excessively informed, ADD-afflicted culture, everyone has something to say about this video and this artist in general. Heck, Bad Romance and/or Lady Gaga has been a Twitter trending topic for more than 24 hours--practically weeks in Internet time. I know our attention spans are shorter than ever and there's always a new distraction around the corner, but I think this could be one of the biggest music video events in a long time. If Lady Gaga aims to do nothing more than stay in the public eye for as long as possible, I have no doubt she will succeed.
OK, now I'm going to take my amateur pop culture analyst hat off and get back to what I know: the fierce, off the wall fashion that defines this video.

Tiny fences are your nails are so chic!

I loved this look for its simplicity with a touch of weirdness in the black crown.

Don't you wish you were one of Gaga's back-up dancers? I know I do.

The orbit!

Most notably, the SS10 McQueen outfit I compared to a disco stick back in October... remember?

Looks like Gaga snagged it in gold though. Unless it's just the lighting.

One of the most insane outfits came towards the end when Gaga approached her suitor wearing a coat made out of a polar bear. What you may not know is that this coat originally appeared on designer Benjamin Cho's Spring 2004 runway with the Humane Society of the United States. That's right, no polar bears were harmed in the making of this video.

I could go on for days about how amazing I think this video is, and I know I'm not alone. So, if for some odd reason you haven't watched the video yet, please do so immediately. If you don't like her music, turn the sound off and watch a true artist at work.

URAQT

Now THIS is having some serious fun with fashion. M.I.A.'s pose goes with the shark's expression, the blue flow-y sleeves are like the ocean the shark is jumping out of! She's even wearing fish earrings! This reminds me of those theme outfits Claudia Kishi wore in the Baby-Sitters Club. Well done, Maya. Very well done.

image from jezebel.com

olsenboye

image from nymag.com

I'm sure all you MK & A obsessives out there have already heard about Olsenboye, the Olsen's new budget-friendly JC Penney line aimed at teens and tweens. They introduced/announced the line on Good Morning America yesterday complete with a truck full of cupcakes and a few pieces from the line. Olsenboye will begin to roll out online and in select stores November 6, with a full launch scheduled for February. Check out this video to see some models in Olsenboye items and hear MK & A explain the origin of the line's name.
Later, the sisters allegedly made an appearance IN the cupcake truck--but I think some onlookers were fooled. This picture looks like wax figures of the Olsens, and it's really kind of creepy.

image from Fashionista.com

My verdict of the line so far? I think the it looks intriguing. As a total fangirl, I'm going to eat up whatever they put out. Unfortunately, I'm a little older than their target audience, but the blazer and pink skirt in the lookbook preview seem like something I could get away with, right?

blake lively does it right... for once

As much as I love Blake Lively as Serena on Gossip Girl, the lady can't pull together a red carpet look to save her life. Many of the dresses I've seen her in have been innappropriately revealing, ill-fitting or both. But finally, FINALLY, at Denise Rich's Angel Ball, here's an ensemb I can get behind:

Blake is still able to show off those fabulous legs she loves so much while still looking sophisticated and pulled together. The shoes add a dash of fun--I love the dark blue sparkles on the toe. This is certainly my favorite look of hers. I don't like to draw attention to fashion failures, but I do like to give credit where credit is due, and it's payday. Ms. Lively--well done!

image from jezebel.com

Shameful

OK, so I'm pretty embarrassed to admit this, but when I saw the new Candie's ad starring Britney Spears stalking a polo player, I paused the video--not to examine Brit's overly airbrushed face, but to admire the adorable shoes she's wearing. I owned a pair of Candie's clogs when I was about 12 or 13 and never thought I'd revisit the brand, but seriously, these shoes are cute! Aren't they? Or am I nuts?

via candies.com

The sad part is, when I tried to find the shoes somewhere, anywhere, I couldn't. They aren't on the Candie's site, aren't on Kohl's site (where the brand is sold). What do I do? Maybe they just haven't been released yet. I just have to hope that if I do get my hands on a pair, people don't say "Hey, aren't those the shoes from that creepy Britney Spears commercial?"

Jack White

I need to start off by pointing out that this is a sort of experimental post that's not very timely. I finally traded in my Toshiba Satellite for a MacBook Pro (which just arrived yesterday). Obviously the Mac is amazing and I can imagine the blog improving because of it (mostly cause I rely on photos so much), but I'm still feeling things out. Hopefully I'll let go of my old PC habits soon and be more agile with this thing, but it will take some time. So, without further ado, I will share a quick post discussing one of my favorite people on the planet: Jack White.

buzznet.com
He's clearly thinking about more red/black/white combo possibilities.

I've had Jack on the brain since his new band the Dead Weather released their debut album a few weeks ago. I started thinking about how under-appreciated Jack is as a style icon. Aesthetically, people usually point out how ghostly pale his skin is or the particularly bright color red of his t-shirts. Then there's the ever popular "What's Edward Scissorhands doing at the Grammys?" But I think there's something to be said for a guy who can limit his wardrobe to three colors (red, white and black--the most powerful color combination possible according to J.W.) and come up with some truly creative and appealing ensembles. One of the main tenants of Jack White's philosophy is simplicity. It's easy to throw on layers upon layers of clothing and call it fashion forward, but its more challenging and rewarding to hold back and express yourself more subtly. That's what I've been attempting to do in my own fashion life these days, and I can turn to these gems from Jack's wardrobe for inspiration:

buzznet.com

Check out the texture of this coat. I've never seen this picture before, but I love the cut of this thing.

buzznet.com
I could do a completely separate post for Meg, but I love when these two coordinate. These outfits might be my favorite Meg/Jack collaboration because they keep the color scheme without appearing costume-y. I'd wear Meg's suit in a nanosecond.

rollingstone.com
He cleans up nice, too! Good thing tuxes are traditionally black. Here he's with his model wife, Karen Elson, at the Met Costume Institute Gala. You can't see them in this picture, but he was wearing some dapper wing-tipped shoes.

rollingstone.com
Now we have all three power colors represented. I'm guessing this is from the Icky Thump era when Jack thought he was a bullfighter and caught the most sartorial flack. Of course, I didn't mind cause I love a fashion chance-taker like my boy Jack White III.

the fab ladies of coachella

M.I.A.

Lykke Li

Alice Glass of Crystal Castles

Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs

and, of course, Jenny Lewis



Not so stylish ...

Paris Hilton and BF Doug Reinhardt

images from the LA Times.